What does this mean?

[ShaneS]

Found this scribbled on the side of a poorly painted building in Honolulu...



I cropped off a fair bit of space around the words and wondered if it would be more effective with more empty space around or even and off center or angled crop? Softer or sharper as I have done here?

Here is a different view retaining the color with an angled crop:



I have been coming back to this image for over a year now so any of your suggestions would be appreciated. This could be the title of my biography

[kdoc856]

Hi, Shane

My strong preference is for the lower image- I think the diagonal lines are absolutely compelling. I like it in color, but would also like to see it in mono.

[Mike Buckley]

I'm a sucker for diagonals, so it's no surprise that I strongly prefer the second image. I also like it better because the colors add interest.

[ShaneS]

Thank you gentlemen! The idea of the diagonal crop came late to me and I threw it up in an edit to the original post. I have to give credit to folks like you on these forums for helping me to see 'outside the box' (not so easy for an analytical accountant like me sometimes ). I do think that the diagonal is more compelling as well.

Kevin I will work on a mono version a bit later today. Right now I am off to one of the local botanical gardens with my camera...

[kdoc856]

Hey, Shane

Your use of diagonals reminded me of a shot I took for my daughter- a "family portrait" of her family's shoes while on vacation this summer. The planks in diagonal made a completely different shot than one in the horizontal orientation.

[ShaneS]

That is a lovely shot Kevin, I'm sure your daughter was pleased. I do see what you mean about the diagonal making it a very different shot (and more interesting too!) Thank you for sharing.

I am learning so very much right now about so many different aspects of photography that my head is spinning. I know that once it has all been internalized it will make me better and hopefully all these tips will pop into my head at just the right time

[Plumcrak]

Shane, I also like the second version with the angled crop and little bit of color. Nice vision.

[ShaneS]

More playing around in Photoshop with this image. Kevin, a mono version of the second image for you with two additional changes - I added a Gaussian blur to all but the plank with the words a gave it a tint to minimize the coolness of the blue when converted to B&W.



I think that these changes take attention away from the sharp paint lines in previous versions while allowing the viewer to focus on the scribbled words and ponder their meaning...